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[MUSIC PLAYING]
SHAUN SMITH: There's a path
chosen for everyone in life,
but I think mine was already
chiselled out for me.
Realistically, I shouldn't
be here.
I've been kidnapped,
thrown in a boot.
50 grand on my head, 100
grand on my head.
What the *** have I
been doing for the
last five or 10 years?
People have been shot.
They'll get blasted
in their legs.
They'll get petrol poured
all over them.
They'll get set on fire.
10 key at 50 grand a key
is a lot of money.
People can go missing
for that money.
Boomph, and they're gone.
Push comes to shove, I'm
there to collect money.
That's what I do, and that's
what I've got.
NARRATOR: 10 years ago, Shaun
Smith was fighting a war
against a rival drug gang.
To win, he introduced urban
terrorism to the British
underworld.
Victims were firebombed with
homemade ***, attacked with
grenades, and sprayed up
with machine guns.
In retaliation, his enemies
tried to blow Shaun up with a
car bomb, the biggest explosion
on mainland Britain
between the fall of
the IRA and 7/7.
Shaun Smith was known
as an enforcer.
Today, after five years in
prison, he is trying to modify
those skills by working as a
debt collector in the straight
going economy.
SHAUN SMITH: I think if I took
on every job that people
offered you, I'd be
dead in 12 months.
I value life too much.
I've always been a debt
collector for pubs.
Violence.
You call that enforcer.
I call it being a mediator.
I don't give a ***
who anyone is.
I'll stand up against anyone.
No one's got nothing
I haven't got.
Every man has only
got the same.
It's who wants it the most,
and I want it the most.
It's not how big the dog
is, it's how big the
fight is in the dog.
And I won't *** stop.
That's it.
These are some of the lads that
I normally take with me.
You can see the big fella
there with the cap on.
And Jay.
You don't want them knocking at
your door at half three or
four in the morning, even when
they do *** smile.
TONY SMITH: Only [INAUDIBLE]
*** smile.
SHAUN SMITH: Looks like a
bulldog chewing a wasp.
What we're doing here today,
it's a skip yard.
My mate got in a bother, was
away for a couple of months.
The fella sees an opportunity,
goes, well, I
don't have to pay rent.
He's not here.
It's the way some people are.
And he's run up a debt.
So he knew my mate was about
to come out of jail.
And he's basically filled the
yard with contaminated waste.
Environmental Health put a 300
grand bill on it to remove it.
300,000 is a lot of money,
so I'm hoping we
can sort this out.
I'll show you a little.
All these little areas and
sites, this is like our bread
and butter, my bread
and butter.
These are working class people,
wee little companies
here, little welders,
painters, garages.
I do work for most of
these around here.
The way the economy is now, the
country is on its ***.
But these people aren't
fighters.
So they ring us, and we come
and collect it for them.
But they all get to know us
because we've got the gym.
And we're local.
There's always--
If they want 10 or 15 men within
10 minutes, they can
have that in 10 minutes.
You can't really get
that anywhere.
We always make sure there's
good, strong lads behind us.
It's this one.
Yeah, it's this one.
Yeah.
Yo, Tom.
Hi, mate.
I'm at your yard now.
*** hell, mate.
What's all this?
Jesus Christ.
Well, what I'm going to do, I'm
just having a look in the
cabin to see if there's
anything here.
We're going to *** off.
Mikey's going to sit on this
tonight in case anyone comes
back and forth.
And then we'll just nab
whoever it is, then.
Look at what they've
got by the door
there, a *** blade.
Tommy, just tell us
where he is, mate.
Just give me a door to knock
on, and I'll do it.
We want 25 grand off him up
front and pay the rest off.
And me and Mikey
can collect it.
You happy with that?
Sound.
Go on, then.
NARRATOR: Often, Shaun's debts
fall into the gray area
between the legit economy and
the underworld, a lucrative
market potentially worth
150 billion in Britain.
This is a typical debt for
Shaun, a dispute between a
businessman and a gangster
over 300,000 pounds.
To recover the debt, Shaun has
brought backup on a dog unit.
But just in case things get out
of control, off camera,
there is a notorious gangster
with a history of firearms and
extreme violence.
SHAUN SMITH: We don't
know him.
Our mate knows him.
He will know who we
are after tonight.
We're just going to go to his
house now to see if we can
grab hold of him.
It might just be a blag with
him being in a cheap car,
having a flat.
He might've just stopped
off for his mail.
Do you know what I mean?
He might just check his mail,
then *** back off to where
he's got his bird
and his kids.
I'll knock on a neighbor's
door and go,
have you seen Andy?
If they say yes,
then that's it.
Game over.
-Just press every buzzer.
SHAUN SMITH: Hello, mate.
I'm wondering if you
can help me.
I'm looking for a guy
called Andy Smith.
-Oh.
It's like the United
Nations here.
SHAUN SMITH: Is it?
Everyone [INAUDIBLE]?
He's got a silver Corsa.
-Get some kids to park up
here and just watch him.
SHAUN SMITH: Well, I've only
got him coming that way.
So if one of you just parks up
tonight and just wait for him.
-It's probably just a
hideout place, this.
SHAUN SMITH: You know, some
debts, you can ring up, you
can make a phone
call, get paid.
Some debts, you turn up, and
before you know it, you're all
rolling around on the floor
like a gang of idiots.
This one is just---
it's a waiting game.
He's obviously having a good
time on someone else's money.
But that time will run out.
As soon as it does,
[KNOCKS ON TABLE]
there's the knock.
This fella you're going to see
on this telly now is the local
*** bully.
He stabbed a pregnant woman,
battered an old fella of 71.
I knocked him out last year,
broke a jaw, knocked six teeth
out and put him in
the hospital.
And he stayed away for a year.
And there he is, trying
to come back.
-I got more pissed off that he
interrupted me reading my
Bernard Hopkins ***
article.
I've still not finished that.
TONY SMITH: People love training
here, coming here and
just coming down for
a cup of tea.
You know, or a chat, even
after training.
They'll sit there like old
grannies, some of them.
They all go around the corner,
drinking tea and just gabbing.
SHAUN SMITH: Did you watch
"Corrie" last night?
-No.
-Mate, it's *** boss.
-It's not only a soap.
-It's not only a soap.
-It's not a soap at all.
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
-It's my life.
SHAUN SMITH: [INAUDIBLE].
Your life, my life.
TONY SMITH: It's like a
community center, really.
It's done a lot for
people, actually.
It's kept me strong a
few times as well.
SHAUN SMITH: Do you
know what I mean?
I help a lot of them out.
It's like the kid who got
sectioned and he's just come
home today.
He's a boss, boss kid and
a top promising boxer.
He's come out of the Winwick
after being sectioned.
He's come right here to see
me, one, for work, and
two, to train him.
You've just got out.
NATE TAYLOR: I know, but I want
to fill some *** in.
SHAUN SMITH: Because you want
to get rid of your anger.
NATE TAYLOR: Yeah.
I'll *** blitz
him, honest.
You'll have to drag
me off the ***.
SHAUN SMITH: Sound.
We'll get him, throw him in a
room, and you just smash him.
He's not going to
know you, is he?
NATE TAYLOR: No, that's
what I mean.
SHAUN SMITH: Because
he knows we're
after a debt now, anyway.
Do you know what I mean?
So we get him, throw him in a
room, you knock the *** out
of him, we're off.
And we'll pay your
wages, anyway.
It's good money, mate.
It's good money.
It's a lot of money.
NATE TAYLOR: Yeah, I've got
bipolar personality disorder--
bipolar and violent
tendencies.
But if it weren't for Shaun,
I'd probably be dead myself
because of, as you can
see, self-harm.
I stab myself, cut myself.
You can see my rib when
I take that off.
-Can you tell us what was this
situation all about?
NATE TAYLOR: A woman.
A woman winding me up.
How did I do it?
-Yeah.
NATE TAYLOR: Got a knife, stuck
it in, and ripped it.
180 *** as well, so I took an
overdose at the same time.
So that's when they put me
in Hollins Park, which is
Warrington's nut house.
But like I say, Shaun keeps me
on the straight and narrow.
He says if I do it again, he's
going to knock me out.
So I think that's enough.
SHAUN SMITH: Go on, go.
[INAUDIBLE], go.
Work!
Work!
Work!
Go on!
Try and *** fill me,
you little ***.
Yeah, I'm there for
him all the time.
He's done it before on his
face, on his face, on his
neck, on his wrist.
And we are going to help him get
through this, because he
is a top, top kid.
And his talent is
unbelievable.
It's just these problems
he's had.
NATE TAYLOR: When I was 10 to
11, I was sexually abused by a
lad that my mom used
to foster.
And I felt like I wasn't
a man for years.
And that's why I took up boxing
and street fighting,
and now mixed martial
arts, to prove to
myself that I'm a man.
You know, instead of feeling
weak and vulnerable, like that
lad made me feel.
And every time I fight,
I picture his face.
I remember standing there,
looking in the mirror,
thinking, I *** hate you.
I want you dead.
And I just got a blade,
and I cut myself.
And then I felt better.
I didn't hate myself no more.
So I wasn't taking the
drugs as much.
So when I felt down, I
was cutting myself.
I ain't got no more room,
anyway, to cut myself now, so
I don't think I'll be carrying
on doing it.
SHAUN SMITH: What the
*** is that?
You can't do body sparring?
NATE TAYLOR: No.
SHAUN SMITH: Look what
he's *** done.
*** idiot.
NATE TAYLOR: I'll
be all right.
SHAUN SMITH: No, get your gloves
off, and then come.
Just go put a plaster
on it now.
NATE TAYLOR: Have you
got some bandages?
SHAUN SMITH: No, put a ***
plaster on it now.
That's *** stupid.
I'll tell you what I'll do.
The next time you do it, mate,
I'll bar you from the gym.
I mean it.
Any of that, gone.
I'm giving you one
last chance.
NATE TAYLOR: I know.
SHAUN SMITH: Last
chance, mate.
NATE TAYLOR: Take care.
Love you.
SHAUN SMITH: Go on.
Love you, too.
NATE TAYLOR: See you later.
See you later, lads.
SHAUN SMITH: [INAUDIBLE].
-Come on!
Come on!
SHAUN SMITH: [INAUDIBLE].
Last minute!
Come on.
Go, go, go, go, go!
Hard!
NARRATOR: *** abuse is an
unspeakable taboo in the
underworld.
However, male *** is commonly
used as a weapon by gangsters
to enforce a debt.
This is a less well known form
of underworld violence, which
acts as a powerful propaganda
tool over and above the
physical and mental suffering
it causes.
SHAUN SMITH: I went with these
two older fellas, proper
hardcase fellas, and one
had done two murders.
And he went, come with
us collecting a debt.
I could have a little bash and,
you know, I'd have a go
with anyone.
I said, yeah, yeah.
Come on.
They go, right, go and have
a look around the house.
Go have a look upstairs.
I go upstairs, just
having a mooch.
He says, is there any
money, any jewelry?
All right, sound.
I'm looking around.
Next thing I can hear,
go on, Dom!
Go on!
Go on!
What the ***'s going
on there?
It comes down, there's Dom, this
fella who's showing me
how to do doors, respects
everyone.
Dead respectful, dead courteous
with his bird and
his kids but a very wicked--
not mad.
I wouldn't say evil.
Wicked, do you know
what I mean?
He couldn't really fight, but
he was dead, dead wicked.
And they've got him over this
table, and he's ***
*** this fella
up the ***.
And the other fella is taking
pictures of him.
Whoa!
Whoa, what going on?
He went, Shaun, just shut up.
Just watch.
I went, hang on, Dom.
He went, leave it.
Leave it there.
Watch and learn, son.
Watch and learn.
Left him a little note.
We *** off.
There's a little note there,
"pay," and a picture.
They ring him back up.
You know what just happened.
We want the *** dough within
a couple of weeks.
These pictures will get
put everywhere.
Your credibility is gone,
and we'll tell
everyone you're a ***.
I went, why can't
we just ***
paste him, break something?
He went, he's used
to that, Shaun.
He's like one of us.
He'll stand and have a go.
Two weeks after, the
fella's paid.
But six months after that
[INAUDIBLE], the *** fella
hung himself.
He couldn't live with it.
-[INAUDIBLE].
SHAUN SMITH: Yeah, he couldn't
live with it, the shame.
You fight fear with fear.
He said, that fella
can have a go.
But you go there, give him a
pasting, he'll pay someone to
come and give one
of us a pasting.
And that's the way
it'll go on.
He said, take everything
away from him.